Agenda item

MEMBER QUESTION TIME (Standing Order 12)

Meeting of Council, Tuesday, 17th January, 2017 4.00 pm (Item 89.)

To deal with supplementary questions arising from the attached questions of which written notice has been given.

Notes:

(i) Answers to written questions shall be circulated at the commencement of the meeting.

(ii) The Lord Mayor will have regard to the list of questions and the political composition of the Council in calling on Members to put their supplementary question to the Leader of Council and Portfolio Holders.

(iii) A period of up to 30 minutes shall be available for supplementary questions to Members of the Executive.

QUESTIONS TO MEMBERS OF THE EXECUTIVE

1. Cllr Duffy

Many carers don’t actually recognise they are carers (as revealed in recent research by Carers UK) and therefore miss out on much needed support often to the detriment of their health and personal finances. What are we doing as a council to support people into identifying themselves as carers and therefore getting the support they deserve and need?

2. Councillor Davies

Could the Portfolio Holder for Childrens’ Services describe how successful to date, the £660,000, ring-fenced over three years, provided to recruit and retain teachers across the district, has been?

3. Councillor Griffiths

Can the leader of the Council confirm that Bradford Council has continued to receive repayments on the loan made to Bradford Bulls in line with the agreement and when we expect the amount to be repaid in full?

4. Councillor Love

Can the Portfolio Holder for Adult Services please update us on the current situation regarding the former Neville Grange Resource Centre site in Saltaire and give a timescale for work on building the much-needed facilities to commence there?

5. Councillor Dunbar

The number of private renters made homeless has more than trebled under the Conservative Government. Will the portfolio holder join me in condemning the Conservative Government for lack of action in protecting private renters in this district and across the country?

6. Councillor Dunbar

Does the leader agree that rail fares going up by 27% since the Tories came to power clearly shows they are failing the economy and failing to appropriately invest in Britain?

7. Councillor Miller

Can the Leader of the Council provide colleagues with indication of which Community Centres are at greatest risk of closure in the near future?

8. Councillor Thirkill

What are the policies and procedures of the council to monitor and enforce against persons, builders, businesses or householders burning waste plastics and other materials on sites or at business premises which causes pollution?

9. Councillor Warburton

The council has just been awarded £1.6m through the Innovation Fund. Can the Leader confirm the amounts that other local authorities were awarded and how we plan to use the funds?

10. Councillor Mike Pollard

At the time of posing this question, it is appreciated that the Core Strategy Development Plan is subject to a temporary Ministerial Holding Direction, but would the Portfolio Holder for Regeneration, Planning & Transport, please outline what is envisaged for the specific furtherance of Policy BD1 Criterion B (2) in respect of 'new road infrastructure' including 'the Shipley Eastern Link Road'.

11. Councillor Warburton

Can the Leader tell me what action the council is taking to address the problem of fuel poverty?

12. Councillor Nicola Pollard

To ask the Portfolio Holder for Environment, Sport & Sustainability

In July 2015 I asked the following question of the portfolio holder:

“What is the timescale for the completion of the work scheduled to be carried out on the Harrogate Road playing fields and what guarantees do we have that the site

will not be let exclusively and will still be accessible for community groups?”

I received the following answer:

“The works to the site at Harrogate Road playing fields is programmed in for

this financial year. Works will be tendered in line with the Council’s Financial

Standing Orders and rules on procuring works. Once completed, the site will

be available for letting to sports teams from across the area and the site will

be managed in the same way as all other recreation grounds in the District.”

Would the portfolio holder please advise what work was completed, how many pitches were made available as a result of the work and the total cost of this work?

13. Councillor Berry

Can the portfolio holder outline the weekly cost of children's residential placements in the private sector as compared to local in house provision and outline the recent cost trends including the additional costs of staff travel to out of area private placements.

14. Councillor Davies

Could the Portfolio Holder for Childrens’ Services provide members with the comparable percentages of children across the district at Key Stage 1 and 2 who currently receive pupil premium funding?

15. Councillor Berry

Bearing in mind that Leeds is in receipt of £173.5m from Government to invest in transport improvements, can the portfolio holder outline what interventions are being made to ensure their plans enable those Bradford residents seeking to gain employment from the wider region being able to better access travel to get them to work, and to seek for the connections between towns and cities in the county to be improved.

16. Councillor Berry

Can the portfolio holders advise how many families seeking re housing have been supported in that process by Children’s Social Care using Children's Act provisions to secure the welfare of children?

17. Councillor Brown

Would the Portfolio Holderfor Regeneration, Planning & Transport, confirm that the projected financial outcome of moving the Highways Services out of the Stock Bridge Depot in Keighley, is likely in time to be an additional cost to the Council rather than a saving, as some services will continue to be based at the depot and would he agree that resultantly, this proposal is more likely to create great head line material, than service improvements or efficiency savings?

18. Councillor Fear

To ask the Portfolio Holder for Regeneration, Planning and Transport

As of the 1st October 2015 smoke alarms and Carbon Monoxide alarms must, by law, be fitted in all private rented properties. Can the portfolio holder advise how many properties Bradford Council has inspected and found no Carbon Monoxide alarm and how many of these cases has led to prosecution?

19. Councillor Rickard

Could the Portfolio Holder for Childrens’ Services confirm whether the planned new sixth form college is expected to reduce the number of students (approximately a quarter of 16-18 learners) who currently choose to travel outside the Bradford district to find alternative post-16 provision?

20. Councillor Love

Can the Portfolio Holder for Regeneration please update members on the current situation regarding the Odeon building?

21. Councillor Poulsen

Could the Portfolio Holder for Regeneration, Planning & Transport confirm what consultation with Ward Members has taken place prior to the new gritting routes being implemented?

22. Councillor Jeanette Sunderland

To ask the Portfolio Holder for Regeneration Planning and Transport

How much compensation has been paid to drivers as a result of damage caused by potholes in the district in each of the last three financial years?

Cllr Jeanette Sunderland

23. Councillor Heseltine

Could the Portfolio Holder for Regeneration, Planning & Transport, list the requirements for a town to be promoted to a principal town in the forthcoming Development Plan.

24. Councillor Davies

Could the Portfolio Holder for Childrens’ Services provide members with an explanation as to why the number of children achieving a good level of development in early years foundation stage is constantly being reported as positive progress, when the Council’s own figures show that it is three percentage points below the national figure, the same margin as in 2013 and the gap for boys’ progress, local versus national, in those three years has actually widened?

25. Councillor Jeanette Sunderland

To ask the Portfolio Holder for Environment, Sport & Sustainability

The total number of incidences and total weight of flytipping and the amount of money collected in fixed penalties for flytipping since the introduction of the new powers compared to the previous six months.

26. Councillor Pennington

Can the Leader of the Council confirm whether any risk assessments have been carried out on service providers affected by Council spending cuts?

27. Councillor Heseltine

Could the Leader of the Council list the council assets and services that have been sold, ceased or closed over the last 5 years in Bingley and the ones they have identified for future termination or disposal?

28. Councillor Riaz Ahmed

To ask the Portfolio Holder for Environment, Sport & Sustainability

How many littering fines were issued by Council Wardens per ward in both 2015 and 2016?

29. Councillor Poulsen

Could the Portfolio Holder for Regeneration, Planning & Transport confirm how many streetlights are awaiting repair and how many wait more than 4 weeks?

30. Councillor Miller

Can the Leader of the Council provide the cost including officer time etc, of the Council writing to various bodies and individuals, as resolved at council meetings, along with details of any tangible benefit to the residents of Bradford District, resulting therefrom?

31. Councillor Jeanette Sunderland

To ask the Portfolio Holder for Environment, Sport & Sustainability

Can the Portfolio Holder provide details of the actual work that has been undertaken by Bradford Council or its partners to reduce the likelihood of flooding from rivers in the District?

32. Councillor Heseltine

Could the Leader of the Council explain the reasons for the delays with the disposal of the Mornington Road Annex and formally contacting the charity commission for permission to sell?

33. Councillor Fear

To ask the Portfolio Holder for Regeneration Planning and Transport

Has the Council identified land for schools to be built on should the funding be made available?

34. Councillor Rachel Sunderland

How many parking tickets were issued to drivers during 2015 and 2016 for dangerous and inappropriate parking outside each of the six Primary and two Secondary Schools in Bolton & Undercliffe ward.

35. Councillor Fear

To ask the Portfolio Holder for Housing, Planning and Transport

How many empty homes, long term and short term, are there in each ward?

Cllr Dominic Fear

36. Councillor Fear

To ask the Portfolio Holder for Housing, Planning and Transport

How many homes in each ward have been given permission to build and where work has not yet started?

37. Councillor Jeanette Sunderland